MLB News

Oct. 12 John Farrell postgame interview

MLB.com

Q. Obviously could you talk about what Sanchez was able to do against you guys, was any of it unexpected?

JOHN FARRELL: I wouldn't say unexpected. He came in as a League leader in ERA. Whether it was Sanchez or every guy they brought out of the bullpen. It was power stuff. They had a secondary pitch they could go to. We got some big opportunities in that first, second and sixth inning, and two‑out base hit was elusive. He had power fastball, good change‑up, slider when he needed to against right‑handers, and a lot of swing and miss, obviously.

Q. Obviously could you talk about what Sanchez was able to do against you guys, was any of it unexpected?

JOHN FARRELL: I wouldn't say unexpected. He came in as a League leader in ERA. Whether it was Sanchez or every guy they brought out of the bullpen. It was power stuff. They had a secondary pitch they could go to. We got some big opportunities in that first, second and sixth inning, and two‑out base hit was elusive. He had power fastball, good change‑up, slider when he needed to against right‑handers, and a lot of swing and miss, obviously.

Q. Was it all Sanchez in their pitching or was it some of your hitting, was there any issue with the umpiring?

JOHN FARRELL: I can't say there was an issue of the umpiring, that would be taking away from the talent that their pitching staff had. They had had good stuff. Whether it was a three‑day layoff for us, I don't want to say it was just that. They're a talented group. And like I said, they had power stuff and they executed very well. But there might have been a couple of pitches that were pitchers' pitches that seemed to go against us.

But to say that the umpiring was the reason why we didn't get a hit until the ninth inning, that would be a little shortsighted on my part.

Q. You guys were getting a lot of deep at‑bats early in the game. Did that work against you at all? You were not swinging at some pitches you could have hit.

JOHN FARRELL: We leave eight men on base, I think. Characteristic of this team all year is to build a pitch count. I thought we were doing that with Sanchez, 50‑plus. But the idea is to get to the bullpen, and as we went through that, anytime we had a man on base he would get a strikeout when needed, but I wouldn't say patience working deep counts was the reason why we didn't get a hit until the ninth.

Q. When you talk about pitchers' pitches, did you think you guys were getting those pitches, the zone was consistent from both sides?

JOHN FARRELL: From our vantage point you can't tell. You can tell up and down, but I don't know if every pitch ‑‑ I can't say there's not going to be pitches missed, that's the human part of this game. So I can't say that was the reason.

Q. You guys are lined up to face Max Scherzer tomorrow. How do you think you'll be able to rebound?

JOHN FARRELL: I think we'll be ready to go tomorrow night. If you haven't been around us this year, we have the ability to put tonight behind us and we'll be ready to go.

Q. The approach you were able to take to get the starter out by sixth inning and with the pitch count up, it was just not executing on the pitches that you did get.

JOHN FARRELL: Well, again, two‑out base hit was the difference in this one tonight. To chase a very good starter after six innings, I thought we succeeded in that right. We're down a run.

That game is still very much in the balance with every time we come to the plate. But I thought we did a number of things well. Our infield defense was outstanding in that fifth inning, and then we preserved the one‑run ballgame at that point. We set out ‑‑ we achieved what we set out to do and that was to get in the bullpen in the middle innings, and unfortunately it didn't work out.

Q. With Cabrera hobbled a little bit at third base, was there any thought to make him move around?

JOHN FARRELL: We showed a few attempts to do that, whether it was Ross, Victorino pushing one up the first base line. But, again, we're trying to get on base a couple of different ways. And we took a couple of opportunities to try to make him be a little more active down there.

But in the end we're looking to get on base anytime we can. And by virtue of the deep counts we drew a decent number of walks to put some men on base. But I can't say that we missed opportunities by making him move any more than we did.